Capítulo 256: Chapter 256
Sophie had always thought there were certain places that should be left alone. The pyramids, for example. Huge, ominous, and ancient. They were tombs, not tourist attractions. But she was desperate. Desperate to prove herself. So, when the opportunity arose to join an archaeological dig at the base of one of the lesser-known pyramids, she didn't hesitate. The promise of finding something... significant, something no one had ever seen, was too much to resist.
The expedition had been difficult. Hot, relentless sun by day, freezing desert winds by night. But it was the night before the final dig, when they uncovered something unusual. The sand was soft, as if something had disturbed it recently, despite the centuries that had passed. Then they found it.
A box, strange and intact, buried deep in the earth beneath layers of sand and dust. Sophie had barely been able to hold back her excitement as she opened it. There, inside, was a single card. Thin, dark, and ancient—no markings, no symbols—just a deep black surface that seemed to absorb the light. She wasn't the first to touch it. But it was her hands that were marked. Not in the literal sense, but the moment her fingers grazed it, she felt something stir deep inside her, a pull toward the card. A pull she couldn't explain.
"What is it?" Jack, her colleague, asked, squinting at the object.
Sophie couldn't answer. Something was wrong. There was an odd chill crawling up her spine, a kind of quiet that seemed to fill the entire tomb, making everything feel off. But she couldn't look away from the card.
Jack took a step closer, peering over her shoulder. "You think it's some kind of... message?"
Sophie didn't respond immediately. Her thoughts scattered. She wanted to put it back, to bury it and leave. But something in her knew it wasn't going to be that simple. She didn't want to touch it again. Yet, she did. Her hand was drawn back to the card, as if the thing was pulling her in, as if it had its own will.
And that's when it spoke.
You are the chosen.
The words were not heard in any normal way. They didn't echo in her ears or rattle her mind. They just appeared. A voice that wasn't a voice at all. Sophie's fingers froze against the card as it pulsed under her touch, like a heartbeat.
You will know what to do. And you will do it with ease. Anything you desire.
Sophie recoiled, her heart pounding in her chest. It couldn't be real. She pulled away from the card, dropping it back into the box, but the words kept repeating themselves in her mind.
Jack stared at her, confused, waiting for an explanation. Sophie struggled to find her words. "It… it's talking to me."
"What?"
"It said… It said I was chosen."
Jack chuckled, brushing it off. "You're overthinking it. Maybe it's some kind of—"
"No." Sophie cut him off. "It's not just some object. I felt it."
She wasn't sure what she meant by feeling it. But she was certain that she had. She could still feel the echo of that strange pulse from the card, and the voice it had left inside her skull was still there, humming like an aftertaste.
Jack shrugged. "Okay, whatever. Let's just wrap this up. We've got a whole bunch of work ahead of us tomorrow."
Sophie couldn't let go of the feeling. There was something more. Something about that card, about the way it made her feel, that wouldn't leave her.
As the dig concluded the following day, Sophie couldn't shake the pull. She knew the card had been more than just a relic. She didn't know what to expect—didn't know if it even had a true purpose. But as the days passed, she kept the card hidden, tucked in the deepest part of her bag. No one knew she still had it.
Until she needed it.
Her career had begun to plateau. What had started as an exciting journey into the past had turned into an endless loop of disappointments. No groundbreaking finds, no recognition. Her friends moved on, and Sophie stayed, frustrated and desperate. She remembered the card, tucked away in her bag. And in her darkest moments, she found herself whispering to it.
Show me what I need.
That was the beginning of everything.
The first thing that happened was so simple that she almost didn't notice. She had been struggling to find the answer to a historical puzzle, something no one had figured out in decades. She was staring at an ancient script, the text just out of reach of understanding. But then the card whispered again, not in her ears but directly into her thoughts. A sudden clarity, the exact solution, the words that made everything fit.
Sophie's hands trembled. It worked. The card worked. She knew exactly what she had to do to solve the puzzle. And then, when she presented it to her colleagues, it felt like an impossible victory. She felt triumphant. They were amazed, throwing accolades her way.
But it didn't stop there. Sophie's obsession with the card grew. The whispers, if they could be called that, came more frequently, more insistently. They told her how to handle difficult people in her life, how to make things happen without lifting a finger. How to become indispensable, respected, admired. Every time she asked, the card gave her the answer, and it was always simple. Effortless.
And soon, Sophie's world seemed to change overnight. Her career skyrocketed. She became the foremost expert in her field. People listened to her every word. Doors opened. She took what she wanted, and it never cost her anything. There were no consequences. Or so she thought.
It was late one night, in the quiet of her apartment, when the card began to speak again, this time more forcefully, more urgently.
It's time for you to take everything.
Sophie recoiled at the words. What did that mean? Take everything? It wasn't enough that she had risen above her peers—she needed more? What was this thing?
But her thoughts were too clouded to stop herself from asking for more. She didn't understand why she had been chosen for all of this. She didn't even understand what this was. But as soon as she asked, the world seemed to bend around her. It was like a dream. Everyone around her began to act differently. People she had once worked with, befriended, began to fall away, as if her influence pushed them aside.
The world became smaller and smaller, just her and the card. The card, her most loyal companion. And yet, as time wore on, Sophie began to feel a strange emptiness. It was hard to put into words. She had everything. She got what she wanted, but the joy of it was gone. She felt... hollow.
One morning, she woke up and couldn't move. Her body ached as though something inside her had snapped. Something was off. The card still sat by her bedside, but it was different now—heavier, darker, almost as if it was staring back at her.
You were given everything. Now you owe everything.
Her heart pounded as the card seemed to pulse once again. This wasn't a victory anymore. She had become a prisoner to whatever force had chosen her. She tried to run, but the world had already changed. People who had once adored her now whispered behind her back. The very things she had used the card to manipulate now worked against her.
Sophie's grip on the card loosened. She had everything she ever wanted. And yet she had nothing. Because the card had never been a gift—it had been a chain, a curse. The very thing she had sought had destroyed her.
She dropped to the floor, feeling the sharp, cold edges of the card in her hands one last time.
And that was when she realized. It hadn't spoken to her in weeks, hadn't given her any more answers. Because there was no more to be given. There was no escape. No more wishes. She had asked for everything, and the card had delivered. But now there was only the silence. The suffocating silence of a life without purpose.
And Sophie knew, finally, that the card had never been about giving her power. It had been about taking it all away.
Estado de energía semanal
-- Ranking de
Poder 
-- Piedra de
Poder